MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon. All smiles, last White House
briefing for a little while, from this White House. The President had
his usual briefings this morning, then he held a Cabinet meeting. This
was his 19th Cabinet meeting since taking office, and you have his
remarks from that meeting.

Let me talk about a couple of other things before we get started.
First of all, we applaud the Senate for acting on a number of important
priorities before they recessed. Senate Majority Leader Frist worked
to make sure that the Senate passed a Chile and Singapore free trade
agreements; energy legislation, so that we can reduce our dependence on
foreign sources of energy; and an emergency supplemental for disaster
relief in fighting forest fires.

Senator Domenici, in particular, has received bipartisan
recognition for his tireless efforts to get the energy legislation to
conference, where we will work closely with members to pass a good,
comprehensive energy bill that increases our energy independence and
reduces our dependence on foreign sources of energy. We commend
Senator Domenici for his work.

One statement by the President. "This week a minority of senators
continued to filibuster highly-qualified judicial nominees who enjoy
the support of a majority of senators. These obstructionist tactics
are unprecedented, unfair and unfaithful to the Senate's constitutional
responsibility to vote on judicial nominees. These highly qualified
nominees have stellar records that represent the mainstream of American
law and values, and strong bipartisan support from those who know them
best.

"Instead of allowing up-or-down vote, a minority of senators have
been filibustering Miguel Estrada for nearly five months, and Priscilla
Owen for three months, and are now obstructing the nomination of Bill
Pryor. The failure to hold votes on these nominations not only is
inconsistent with the Senate's constitutional responsibility, but also
has caused extended judicial vacancies that are harmful to the American
judicial system.

"Every judicial nominee should receive an up-or-down vote in the
full Senate, no matter who is President or which party controls the
Senate. It is time to move past the partisan politics of the past and
do what is right for the American legal system and the American
people. Let each senator vote how he or she thinks best, but give the
nominees a vote."

Again, that was a statement by the President, and we will
distribute that shortly.

One last item I'd like to get to, before we begin. We want to wish
Patsy Wilson the best. She will be missed here at the White House, but
she is continuing with Reuters and will be on, I guess, somewhat of a
new/old beat for Reuters. And we just -- as the President said, we
will miss you here. And we wish you the best, and I'm sure we will see
you down the road.

Q Thank you.

With that, I'll let Patsy -- if you have a question -- start off.

Q Sure. Scott, can you rule out the possibility of bilateral
talks between the U.S. and North Korea? I mean, are the talks -- the
discussions over the table, you don't consider those bilateral talks?
There will be no bilateral talks with you two, alone?

MR. McCLELLAN: We have been very clear in our position that this
next round of talks, which appear to be on their way, need to be
multilateral talks. It's important to have the countries in the
neighborhood at these meetings. They are ones who are directly
affected by this. They are the ones who understand the importance of a
nonnuclear peninsula. And it's a positive development that North Korea
has agreed to this multilateral approach, that the bilateral approach
that previously was pursued did not work. North Korea did not abide by
its obligations in its agreement. And so we believe it's very
important that those in the neighborhood also be at these meetings.
There is always the opportunity during these meetings for North Korea
or any other party to talk directly to another party while these
meetings are going on. But we continue to pursue a multilateral
approach.

Q And, secondly, where do you think the talks will take place?
In the region, or in the United States?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think all the details and the timing, those
are issues that are still being worked out. We're in close
consultation with all the countries that will be involved. And we'll
continue to be and work out those details. But what's most important
is that once that process is established, that all of us work closely
together to make sure that North Korea, once and for all, in a
verifiable and irreversible way, end its nuclear weapons program and
move toward a better and more normal relationship with its neighbors
and with the international community.

Q How can you say, in the President's statement on the judicial
nominees, that vacancies are created? I thought they had confirmed,
they say, what, is it 140?

Q How can you talk about vacancies that are created when you're
talking about three nominees?

MR. McCLELLAN: Every nominee -- and these are highly qualified
nominees. These are individuals that have strong experience, they
understand the importance of interpreting the law, not trying to make
law from the bench.

Q Put aside that argument. How can you claim that it creates
--

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it's very important that every member, or
every nominee --

Q -- vacancies, when you're talking about three people?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- that every nominee get an up-or-down vote.
That's the responsibility the Senate has --

Q I understand the argument and I'm not arguing --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and that's a responsibility that they need to
let go through.

Q -- with the substance of the statement, only the assertion
that it creates vacancies.

MR. McCLELLAN: There are a number --

Q Three. Three, I think.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, no, there are a number of vacancies out there
in the judicial system. We're trying to move forward as quickly as
possible, and the Senate has been holding up these --

Q What do these three nominees have to do with the --

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me finish. The Senate has been holding up
these nominees for a long period of time. And they need to move
forward and give them an up or down vote. We need to put aside all the
past -- the politics of the past needs to be put aside, and people need
to let these nominees be voted on. These nominees enjoy some strong
support.

Q I'm not questioning the thrust of your argument.

MR. McCLELLAN: And I would submit to you that if they are voted on,
that they will be -- the Senate will approve those people.

Q There will be three less vacancies, yes, but only three.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, there are many more vacancies than that in our
judicial system, Bill. I totally disagree with that.

Q Scott, there's a new Saddam Hussein tape, purported to be his
voice, played today, suggesting that a strike back at the Americans
might be imminent. Do you think these tapes, several tapes now, are,
in fact, the voice of Saddam Hussein? And what is the administration
doing to, if not to locate him, to find out where these tapes are
coming from?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, I'm not sure if there's been an update on
the latest tape, to whether or not our intelligence community has had a
chance to analyze that. The previous tapes they have stated are likely
-- they've stated that it's likely it is Saddam Hussein. But let me
remind you, Saddam Hussein is gone, his regime is gone from power. He
is no longer in power. And we will continue the search for him. We
will find him and he will be brought to justice.

He was a leader of a very brutal and oppressive regime, and we have
made it very clear to the Iraqi people that that regime is not coming
back. And by finding him, that will be further assurance to the Iraqi
people that the days of fear and torture and oppression are being
replaced by hope and opportunity and freedom.

Q But don't you find this incredibly frustrating and
problematic that these voices keep coming?

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, look, Saddam Hussein is out of power, his regime
is gone. There are certainly remnants of the former regime and
loyalists to the former regime, foreign terrorists in Iraq that seek to
do harm to the Iraqi people, that seek to do harm to the coalition
forces and that seek to prevent a free and democratic Iraq from coming
about. But our forces are on the offensive and they are going after
these dead-enders, and they're going find them, and they're going to
defeat them. They will not be back.

And we appreciate all the sacrifices that our forces are making to
bring about a free and democratic Iraq. A free and democratic Iraq is
going to lead to a more stable and peaceful Middle East. And it's
going to make the world a safer place. It's going to make America a
safer place. This is a very important and noble cause that we are
involved in, and that our troops are doing an outstanding job carrying
through.

Q Governor Jeb Bush has now said on camera, apparently, that he
believes that the administration's decision to send back those 12
Cubans last week was a mistake, that he disagrees with the President.
What is the President's position? Does the President agree with the
decision that was made apparently by folks on the ground, the Coast
Guard?

And then a follow-up to that. Governor Bush also indicates that a
change in administration policy toward Cuba is in the offing. Can you
comment on that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, our policy toward Cuba has always been
very clear. This President has always stood firmly on the side of the
people of Cuba in their struggle for freedom and democracy and freedom
from an oppressive regime. The President has been very clear that the
sanctions that are in place need to remain in place until Cuba has free
elections, freedom of speech, and until Cuba frees political
prisoners. So this President has stood stronger than, I submit to you,
any other in terms of supporting the people of Cuba in their struggle
for freedom, in their struggle for democracy.

But our policy toward Cuba is clear. Our policy is one of a safe,
orderly and legal migration. This relates to the whole wet feet/dry
feet policy that is there. We expect that policy to be implemented and
carried out in a consistent way. But our views and our support for the
people of Cuba in their struggle for freedom is very clear.

Q So he disagrees with his brother. Has he talked to his
brother about it?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that they've had a conversation. As
his brother noted, that they had not, about this specific issue. But
there are many issues where the President and the governor agree. And
I think there are very few where they disagree. But one thing that we
do agree on is that there is a very oppressive regime and that we stand
together in our dedication to helping the Cuban people realize freedom
and realize democracy.

Q Scott, you made clear earlier that there will be no
inducements to get North Korea to set aside its nuclear program. But
the administration has said for a long time that if -- and I know it's
a big if -- but if North Korea is a responsible player, in your view,
than the door would be open, perhaps, for more humanitarian aid,
perhaps to economic aid, perhaps even to diplomatic relations down the
road. When is that threshold? Is it simply when they enter into an
agreement, or would the administration say we need six, eight months to
watch to see if you mean it this time?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that it's very clear to North Korea that if
they end, once and for all, in a verifiable and irreversible way, their
nuclear weapons program, that they stand to realize a lot of benefits
from the international community. But they need to take that step
first. I think it's jumping ahead before they take that step. And one
of the reasons we are pursuing this in a multilateral, diplomatic way,
is because all parties have an interest in seeing an end to this
nuclear weapons program in North Korea. All parties have an interest
in a nuclear-free peninsula, a safer peninsula.

Q But the President says they broke their word last time.

MR. McCLELLAN: That's right.

Q So would he want months or years of proof before he's willing
to believe it was a deal this time?

MR. McCLELLAN: It has to be verifiable and it has to be
irreversible. And that's what we'll work with our friends and allies
in the region, as we move forward on multilateral talks.

Did you have one other? You can have one more.

Q He saluted President Hu's leadership in helping bring this
situation about. And they obviously had a conversation on Wednesday.
When they discussed North Korea, did the President at all discuss the
new administration report that suggests China continues to view -- for
all the economic cooperation -- continues to view the United States as
its long-term threat and continues to aggressively build ballistic
missiles, not only capable of reaching Taiwan, but a longer-range
missiles, capable of reaching Japan and U.S. troops stationed in Asia?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think our position is very clear on that
issue. The purpose of the call was primarily to talk about the
situation in North Korea, one that we are working together on. The
President thanks the Chinese leadership, thanks President Hu for
helping to bring this about.

On the issue you brought up, we have made it very clear our
concerns about Chinese increasing their weapons. And we've made it
very clear that we stand firmly committed to the Taiwan Relations Act.
And we will be there to help Taiwan. And what we want to emphasize is
that those parties -- Taiwan and China -- need to have a dialogue on
this. They need to talk about these issues together, to pursue a
peaceful resolution to these issues.

Q Before the latest tax cut passed, the administration produced
a study that said that it would create something approaching a million
jobs by the end of next year. Given the news this morning that the
economy continued to lose jobs last months, even as the unemployment
rate went down a little bit, do you stand by that? And do you believe
that by the end of this President's first term, the economy will on net
have created more jobs than it lost during his presidency?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me tell you what I know, that the latest tax
cut that was passed, those benefits are just now beginning to be
realized. The withholding tables really have just -- are just
beginning to be realized in terms of people's paychecks, where they're
receiving more money in their paychecks. The child credits have just
gone out. These are going to be a big boost to the economy, that will
put more money in people's pockets so that they can spend that on a
good or service, which will lead to more jobs, as the President likes
to point out.

And I would go back to some of the numbers that have already been
put out in terms of where we are today. The President touched on this
a little bit about how we've had a declining economy in 2000. There
was a recession, and then we had a national emergency with the
September 11th attacks. We had some corporate CEOs who did not tell
the truth. And we had the constant focus on the lead-up to war.

The action that we took enabled us to make sure that unemployment
was reduced by a rate of nearly one percentage point; that there was an
increase in the number of jobs by as much as 1.5 million; that it
increased the GDP by as much as 2 percent because of action that we
took to get more money back into people's pockets and provide relief.
And those numbers are from the Department of Treasury.

Make no mistake about it, the President is not satisfied, because
there are still people that are looking for work that cannot find
work. And the President will always stay focused on the economy.
There is more that we can do. Congress took some steps -- the Senate,
just yesterday -- in passing the free trade agreements with Chile and
Singapore. It's important to expand trade and open markets to American
producers and American products. It's important to move forward on
this energy bill. That's also something that will improve our economic
security, a comprehensive energy bill that reduces our dependence on
foreign oil. And it's important to continue our efforts to stop
abusive lawsuits.

So there's more that we can do -- we need to pass the reemployment
accounts. And that's where we'll continue to keep our focus.

MR. McCLELLAN: Mark, did you have one? I'll come back to you,
Mike.

Q Scott, yes, I want to follow-up on Dick's question. September
11th was two years ago. The recession was over quite some time ago.
The war in Iraq is months behind us. In this most recent jobs report,
half a million Americans voted with their feet and gave up looking for
a job. Why isn't that not an indictment of administration economic
policy?

MR. McCLELLAN: We did talk about the recent unemployment numbers.
And I talked about that earlier today, about how they did go down, but
there were job losses and there are still too many people looking for
work. And that's why the President remains focused on making sure --
the first thing we did was get the economy growing again. We had one
of the shortest and shallowest recessions in history because the action
that we took got the economy growing. I just pointed out the number of
people that are still working because of the action that we took. So
we're acting to address this.

But this is a President -- let me remind you, this recession was
something that was inherited. It happened when he came into office.
And we are working to address that. We're getting the economy
growing. It's not growing fast enough, but yesterday's GDP numbers
were positive news. The inflation rate continues to be at low numbers,
that's positive; manufacturing up, housing starts up. There is some
good economic news out there, but there is more to be doing.

There's more to do and the President will not be satisfied as long
as people are looking for work. That's why this President is acting,
that's why this President put forward proposals and passed proposals to
get the economy growing and we're getting people back to work. And a
lot of these benefits are starting to be realized now.

Q But half a million Americans have given up -- that's not a
vote of no confidence?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q A half million Americans have given up now. That's not a
vote of no confidence?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I mean, you're going into some of the details
of the latest numbers. I think economists can go more into that, in
terms of the GDP. What we're focused on is the policies that will get
people back to work and get people working. And that's the action we
took. Again, reduced unemployment rate by nearly 1 percent, increased
the number of jobs by as much as 1.5 million because of the action we
took, that otherwise this wouldn't have happened.

Q Scott, regarding the President's urging of respect for every
individual and to welcome those with good hearts, you were questioned
16 times yesterday --

MR. McCLELLAN: Is that all? (Laughter.)

Q -- I counted them -- all with regard to only one alternative
lifestyle, which is homosexuality. And my question, does the President
mean respect and welcome for only this one alternative lifestyle, and
none of the others? And I have a follow-up.

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I think the President has been very clear that
we ought to treat one another with dignity and respect. He believes
that we ought to treat everybody -- that everybody ought to be treated
with dignity and respect. He's very clear on that, and that is a view
he has long held.

And let me keep moving because --

Q No, no, this one has to follow --

MR. McCLELLAN: I've got to get --

Q I won't see you for a whole month --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry. Mike.

Q A whole month, this has --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll try to come back if I can. Mike. Mike.

Q In the President's remarks this morning, he said that some
people said he should not have acted, that he should have let the
recession get deeper so the recovery would have been more pronounced.
Who was saying that?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that, you know, this goes back to
conversations that people have said publicly and that -- I don't know
the specific person, though; I couldn't tell you. Again, I've been up
here for about three weeks, I couldn't tell you that.

Q A lot of voters consider this democratic strangle hold, the
filibuster, un-American, unconstitutional. What can the President do,
and Senator Frist, to unblock this strangle hold?

MR. McCLELLAN: Are you talking about the judicial nominees? Well,
we're going to continue urging them of what their responsibility is.
It is a minority of senators who are blocking these nominees from
receiving an up-or-down vote. One way or the other -- you know,
senators can vote however they want, but they should be allowed to
vote. We've put forward nominees, the President's responsibility, that
are highly qualified and they're well respected. And those who know
them best have the highest regard for these nominees.

So it's time for the Senate to act. We'll continue to urge them to
act on these nominees and fill these vacancies.

Q Scott, first of all, on what are you basing that 1.5 million
figure on, of jobs --

MR. McCLELLAN: These are Treasury Department numbers, and we put
these out --

Q Do you have any outside analysis --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and we've put these out previously.

Q Okay. Is there any outside analysis, outside of what the
administration has determined, that leads you to come up with that?

MR. McCLELLAN: There is always lots of analysis, but the Treasury
Department has put these numbers out and you can check with them about
more specifics. These were previously put out numbers.

Q And, secondly, you used the phrase this morning, "jobless
recovery." Does the President believe we are in a jobless recovery?

MR. McCLELLAN: What his focus is on is to make sure that we don't
have a jobless recovery. The economy is growing, and we need to
continue to act to make sure that people are able to find jobs --
people that want jobs are able to find jobs.

Q Scott, there has been some upbeat economic news in the last
couple of days, but, nonetheless, the President doesn't get to fulfill
the entire tax agenda because he leaves town with a slam-dunk in his
face from Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert in the form of not allowing a
vote on the child tax credit for people on the low rung.

First of all, how does this sit with the President and what can he
do when it --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President believes they need to act on
that. The President believes that Congress should act and pass that.
He's been very clear in urging action on that.

Q Does he feel that he's been betrayed by members of his own
party?

MR. McCLELLAN: He's going to continue to urge Congress to take that
important step and to expand the child credit. He believes very
strongly in that effort.

Q On North Korea, you said this morning -- and I think you said
again just a little while ago -- that within the context of the
six-party talks that are apparently going to happen, there could be a
direct conversation between North Korea and American officials, so long
as it's at the table and the other parties are present..

Was that view communicated to the North Koreans, to the Chinese,
before yesterday's announcement?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know. I mean, I think you'd have to talk to
the Chinese about direct conversations they've had with North Korea.
We appreciate the help that China has been in helping to move us
forward in this multilateral approach.

Q I'm asking what we said to the North Koreans, to anybody, for
that matter. Did we communicate --

MR. McCLELLAN: Our view is what we said publicly. Our view is
very clear to the North Koreans, that we're pursuing a peaceful,
diplomatic solution, but it needs to be a multilateral approach. It
needs to be a multilateral forum, because of the importance of
including these countries in the neighborhood. They are the ones
affected. If we're going to move forward on substance, they need to be
there.

Q Do the North Koreans know that there could be direct
conversations with --

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, I think we've always said there's always an
opportunity for anyone to talk to another person that is sitting at the
table.

Q Do you think that played any role in their acceptance of the
situation?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I'm not going to speak for that
regime. You'd have to talk to them about that.

Q Also on North Korea. Scott, you said earlier, there could be
some benefits accruing to North Korea from the international
community. Are there circumstances under which this President would
extend full diplomatic recognition to North Korea?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, I think we're jumping way ahead of where
things are right now. North Korea -- we have a lot of concerns with
North Korea, in terms of proliferation, in terms of drug trafficking,
in terms of their pursuit of nuclear weapons. So there are a lot of
concerns that we have with North Korea. The purpose of these talks is
to get them to once and for all end their nuclear weapons and the
pursuit of that, those weapons.

Q I know you said timing is a detail to be worked out, but is
this foreseen in the coming weeks?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think there's been a lot of talk about,
something should happen soon. We certainly are ready to hold talks
sooner than later. But I'm not going to put a time frame on it.

Q And our representative, again, would be Kelly?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, let's let the details be worked out, and
then we can have more information from that point.

Q Scott, was the President saying that he actually, consciously
took actions to make the recession shallower, but shorter, knowing that
the recovery would not be as robust?

MR. McCLELLAN: We acted to address the recession. We acted to
make sure that the economy came back to a path of growth.

Q But my point is, the President said, we could have had a
deeper but shorter recession -- I probably didn't say it right in my
question. We could have had a deeper but shorter --

MR. McCLELLAN: And said, more people would have been hurt, more
people would have been looking for work.

Q So did the President actually take actions to have that kind
of --

MR. McCLELLAN: He's focused -- he's focused on creating an
environment for job creation and economic growth. That's what his
focus has always been. We got the economy turned around and growing.
And we're continuing to focus on the importance of --

Q Did he do something, implement any policies --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- getting people who are looking for work, back to
work.

Q -- that would make this recession shallower?

MR. McCLELLAN: Did he implement policies that would make it
shallower and shorter? We implemented policies to get the economy
growing as soon as possible. It's not growing fast enough. We want to
continue to grow it --

Q What did he do?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- we want to continue to have it grow faster.
Well, we've acted three times on jobs and growth packages.

Q Are you talking about tax cuts, alone?

Q I'm not done. I have another. Are you still --

MR. McCLELLAN: Actually, I talked about more. There's more to
do. I pointed out that there's more we can do to improve the economic
security of the American people.

Q Based on the actions he did take, the stimulus package, are
you still predicting a half million jobs to be created this year?

MR. McCLELLAN: There have been numbers put out there that are
based on what we've passed, and those numbers are readily available for
you. I don't have those -- I don't have those numbers in front of me.

Q But you're not --

MR. McCLELLAN: But we took action to help people have an
opportunity to get a job. And that money is just getting back into
people's pockets from the most recently passed jobs and growth package
--

Q And the tax --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- so that they can spend it on goods and
services. And, yes, we are putting ourselves in position to where
there will be an environment for job creation and economic growth. I
think there are already steps being taken in that direction if you look
at number of areas.

Q So you are predicting that the --

MR. McCLELLAN: I got to keep going because --

Q -- the package that the President signed --

MR. McCLELLAN: I got to keep going, got to keep moving.

Q -- would create a half million --

Q Scott, I wanted to ask about Cuba again. Does the President
support the action taken by his own administration, which was to send
those people back to Cuba?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President expects that the policy -- or expects
the policy to be implemented and enforced in a consistent way. That's
what the President believes. And that policy is clear, and those
actions are taken by those who are responsible for implementing that
policy. And if you have further questions about the details of that, I
think you need to talk to the appropriate people about that.

Q There were negotiations --

Q Scott, on Liberia?

Q But just to follow up. So it was consistent with the policy?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I was informed -- I was informed that's not the
case.

Q That there were not negotiations?

Q It was consistent with the policy to send those people back,
is that correct?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q It was consistent with the policy the President supports --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the specific details, you need to talk to
the appropriate people who are responsible for implementing -- or for
enforcing that policy.

Q Can you clear up what you just said, though, Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me go to Ben. I'll try to get back to you.

Q Scott, aside from enjoying a summer buzz, how does the
President view this summer vacation, his month-long break? Is it a
chance to recharge his batteries after a tough --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think the President of the United States
ever gets a break, as you're referring to. It's always been an
opportunity for him to go home and spend some time at home. But it's
also a time when he continues to focus on the important priorities of
the American people, when he continues to focus on fulfilling his
responsibilities. It's also a time when he likes to get out into the
heartland for an extended period of time and talk with American people,
get outside Washington, D.C., talk about his agenda, listen to what's
on the minds of the American people. So this is a great time to get
out into the heartland of America, away from the bubble of Washington,
D.C. -- even though we enjoy being here with you all.

Q Also, aside from the August 9th donor maintenance event, is he
going to be entertaining big donors at the ranch over the course of --

MR. McCLELLAN: What I have, in terms of any activities related to
the campaign, is the information I gave you out earlier this week. And
details beyond that, I think you ought to talk to the campaign.
Obviously, we will update you from Crawford if there's anything to
update you on.

Q Scott, on Liberia, is the President still confident that
ECOWAS will have peacekeepers in Liberia by Monday? And if that's the
case, will the President then make a decision early next week regarding
sending in U.S. troops?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there's been some assessments done on the
ground in Liberia by some of the folks you're referring to. There were
some productive talks yesterday in Ghana with the heads of state of
ECOWAS, and there was senior-level U.S. representation there. We do
expect the ECOWAS foreign ministers to continue to have further
discussions today, and we're actively participating in all the military
and political planning that's taking place in the region, as you talked
about.

The President has made it very clear that we want to participate
with ECOWAS and support ECOWAS, and we're in constant discussions to
determine the extent of that participation. And we want to --

Q But ECOWAS announced it will --

MR. McCLELLAN: We've already provided funding to the vanguard
force, which I think is what you're referring to, so that they -- it
will helpful to get them in there. I think, beyond that, there's
ongoing discussions about the components of what --

Q Is funding --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- of what our participation will be. But we
continue to remain actively engaged with ECOWAS and trying to get that
vanguard force, hopefully will get in there very soon. We continue to
make it very clear that Charles Taylor needs to leave, that there needs
to be a cease-fire in place, people need to pull back from the fighting
and get focused again on the peace talks in Accra. So that's where
things stand right now.

Q Is funding the only thing the administration will do for that
first vanguard force, then, that arrives by Monday? Just funding?

MR. McCLELLAN: If there's anything to update you on, we will do so
at the appropriate time. We continue to be in close contact with all
those West African nations, and we continue being in close contact with
the U.N., as well.

Q Scott, Connie hasn't got a question.

Q Scott --

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, I'll do one more. Connie, and then I've got
to go. I'm sorry about the schedule change today.

Q No, a follow-up. One follow-up. That's all. You gave this
person six, Scott.

Q Scott, I realize the U.S. can't be a peacekeeper all over the
world. Does the administration expect U.N. troops to participate with
more corrupt, dictatorial regimes? Would you like to see U.N. troops
go in, in Congo early, or other places where there are horrendous acts
being committed?

MR. McCLELLAN: We always work very closely with the U.N. in terms
of addressing the different situations across the world, and we will
continue to do so.